US 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



would do good work, and do it rapidly. I 

 know your plan is a good one for one who 

 can be trusted to handle melted wax. 



ROBBED BEES GOING HOME WITH HOBBEBS, ETC. 



Just a few words from our section. Bees never 

 hare done better than now; 180 natural swarms May 

 12; more surplus to-day than all last >car; very 

 heavy honey-dews. 



Now just a word on Doolitlle's comments, about 

 robber bees joining- intruders. This spring one of 

 my father-in-law's stocks began robbing one of a 

 neighbor's, and robbed till all honey was gone. The 

 I'obbed swarm gave up, and followed out in a mass- 

 queen and all. They clustered on a barn-side for 

 half an hour. All the while they were there some 

 kept up a strong "line" to the robber's stand, and 

 then all went to the stand and went in. If there 

 was no queen, why did they bang so long? We saw 

 them come out in a body, and so I, for one, am con- 

 vinced. 



yUEENS THAT WON'T LAY. 



Did you ever have bees that accepted a queen for 

 one month, kill her? I have been buying some Ital- 

 ian queens, and one that was warranted pure and 

 laying, I think was not fertilized; if so, would she 

 come out twice, as if to meet the drones? I have 

 had one act this way. The last time, she did not 

 comeback; I presume the birds caught her. Now 

 what ought I to do? She was received in good con- 

 dition, with a postal stating she was known to be 

 laying; but not an egg she laid for me. Will friend 

 Flanagan tell what kind of candy he used to make 

 his bees boom so? 



BLACK ITALIANS. 



I have one swarm of blacks that have cccru pecu- 

 liarity of Italians. To handle them, you would nev- 

 er know them t<) be blacks; comb is always built up- 

 wai-d, but no yellow bands, and no one could buy 

 that queen from me. Why? She is always the first 

 to swarm, always the first to store supplies, always 

 the strongest, and I have never lost one swarm from 

 her in wintering yet, without protection either. 1 

 have taken full frames of brood from her all sum- 

 mer, and nothing checks her. lam now trying to 

 get her daughter crossed by Italian drones, but can't 

 say for certain, but I don't think they have. I call 

 her " Best," and she has well earned her name. If 

 there were black Italians, I should call her one. 



Ed. Ladd, Jr. 



Beverly, Macon Co., Mo., June 17, 1881. 



I have known colonies to seemingly pro- 

 test against accepting queens for nearly a 

 month, and to finally kill them after they 

 had laid the hive pretty full of eggs. Re- 

 moving queens sometimes causes tliem to 

 stop laying entirely Neighbor ][. carried 

 one of his best queens down to his river api- 

 ary, and introduced her; and, although she 

 was a good laying queen, and was out of the 

 hive only a few hours, she never laid any 

 afterward. Have charity, friends, and be 

 slow in accusing anybody of selling a virgin 

 queen. If the queens we send out don't lay, 

 after a proper time, say three or four days, 

 if honey is not coming in, feed regularly for 

 a day or two; if they don't lay then, say so 

 pleasantly, and Ave will send another in' her 

 place ; but please don't write back you think 

 she never did lay.— I should not be surprised 

 if such a queen might take another flight; 

 you know I gave pretty good evidence that 



a queen received from Italy once met a drone 

 here, before she commenced laying. Hold 

 on to your black Italians by all means. 

 They may have Italian blood in them, I sup- 

 pose, even if they have no bands. 



WHAT A POUND OF BEES WILL DO., ETC. 



Last fall or the last of summer I bought one tested 

 queen and a pound of bees; paid .f3.00. The bees 

 she raispd were nice. They wintered well, but one 

 day in March I saw the bees drag her out dead. I 

 thought all was lost; but one day in April T saw a 

 young queen out for a fly, but there were no drones. 

 It was the last time I saw her. The bees soon died. 

 Moral : The queen must have been old. 



Wm. G. Norton. 



Honeoye Fislls, Monroe Co., N. Y., June 1, 1881. 



But I must protest against that "moral" 

 a little, friend N. I do not know of whom 

 you bought the pound of bees and queen, 

 but I would put the moral as it is in the 

 ABC; viz., any queen is liable to die or 

 stop laying, at any period of her life; and 

 because you happen to be unfortunate, do 

 not uncharitably decide that the person who 

 sold you the queen knowingly sent you an 

 old one. 



ABSCONDING OF X POUND OF BEES XfiD QUEEN. 



The pound of bees with queen came to-day in 

 splendid condition — not two dozen dead were found 

 in the case. But what ailed the pets? I think they 

 took a sudden dislike to this northern countr3'. I 

 arranged a nice hive for them, with a full frame of 

 brood, capped and uncapped, and a frame contain- 

 ing honey. I opened the case containing the bees 

 with queen, and set it in the hive, and covered the 

 same with usual honey-bu:a-il and top, and after 

 watching their movements 15 or 20 minutes I left 

 them about half an hour, and returned, when I no- 

 ticed they seemed quiet; and in looking into the 

 hive to see if they had all come out of the case, and 

 intending to put in a division-board, I noticed the 

 bees had taken "French leave"— not a dozen bees to 

 be seen. What could have been the reason? lam 

 sadly disappointed, and imagine I at first must have 

 resembled Rodney, in the cartoon for May, page 220. 

 I felt as he loolis, at all events. W. AVakefield. 



St. Paul, Minn., June 10, 1881. 



We had just one such report last year, and 

 as we have sent 'out toAvard 1000 lbs. this 

 season, Avith only one such report, I can 

 hardly think it a very common freak. I do 

 not knoAv Avhat more one could do, after 

 giving them a frame containing unsealed 

 larvtc. If the hive had any offensive smell 

 about it, I should perhaps think that the 

 cause. Although Ave Avere in no kind of way 

 to blame in the transaction, I hardly felt 

 right to let our friend have all that money 

 and trouble out, without a bee to show as 

 an equivalent, and so I offered to fill the or- 

 der again at half price. 



"NEA'ER say DIE;" RAISING BEES IN THE HOUSE. 



Do you remember in Feb. No. you put me in 

 Blasted Hopes. If I had lost all I would not despair 

 nor give up. My hopes are not Masted yet. I saved 

 two out of seven, and they are doing well. AVinter 

 came on unexpectedly early and severe; frost gath- 

 ered in the hive; after two or three weeks it thawed 

 just enough to run on the bees, and before they 

 could get dry it turned cold again and froze the little 

 pets to death. I discovered the trouble when all 



